Norman Garmezy, a development psychologist at the University of Minnesota, met thousands of children in his four decades of research. A nine-year-old boy in particular stuck with him. He has an alcoholic mother and an absent father. But each day he would walk in to school with a smile on his face. He wanted to make sure that "no one would feel pity for him and no one would know his mother's incompetence.” The boy exhibited a quality Garmezy identified as “resilience”.

    Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. People who are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity (逆境) won't know how resilient they are. It's only when they're faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, comes out. Some give in and some conquer.

    Garmezy's work opened the door to the study of the elements that could enable an individual's success despite the challenges they faced. His research indicated that some elements had to do with luck, but quite large set of elements was psychological, and had to do with how the children responded to the environment. The resilient children had what psychologists call an “internal lens of control(内控点)”. They believed that they, and not their circumstances, affected their achievements. The resilient children saw themselves as the arrangers of their own fates.

    Ceorge Bonanno has been studying resilience for years at Columbia University's Teachers College. He found that some people are far better than others at dealing with adversity. This difference might come from perception(认知) whether they think of an event as traumatic(创伤), or as an opportunity to learn and grow. “Stressful” or “traumatic” events themselves don't have much predictive power when it comes to life outcomes. "Exposure to potentially traumatic events does not predict later functioning,” Bonanno said. "It's only predictive if there's a negative response.” In other words, living through adversity doesn't guarantee that you'll suffer going forward.

The good news is that positive perception can be taught. "We can make ourselves more or less easily hurt by how we think about things," Bonanno said. In research at Columbia, the neuroscientist Kevin Ochsner has shown that teaching people to think of adversity in different ways--to reframe it in positive terms when the initial response is negative, or in a less emotional way when the initial response is emotionally “hot”—changes how they experience and react to the adversity.

Unusual incidents are being reported across the Arctic. Inuit(因纽特人) families going off on snowmobiles to prepare their summer hunting camps have found themselves cut off from home by a sea of mud. There are also reports of sea ice breaking up earlier than usual, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a rather abstract idea to most of us, but in the Arctic it is already having great effects—if summertime ice continues to shrink at its present rate, the Arctic Ocean could soon become almost ice-free in summer. The knock- on effects(连锁反应) are likely to include more warming, cloudier skies, and higher sea levels. Scientists are increasingly eager to find out what's going on in the Arctic.

    For the Inuit the problem is urgent. They live in unsteady balance with one of the environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its causes, is a direct danger to their way of life. Nobody knows the Arctic as well as the locals, which is why they are not content simply to stand back and let outside experts tell them what's happening. In Canada, where the Inuit people are trying hard to guard their hard-won autonomy in the country's newest land, Nunavut, they believe their best hope of survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with the best of modern science. This is a challenge in itself.

    The Canadian Arctic is a vast, treeless polar desert that's covered with snow for most of the year. Adventure into this area and you get some idea of the hardships facing anyone who calls this home. Farming is out of the question and nature offers few pickings. Humans first settled in the Arctic a mere 4,500 years ago, surviving by taking advantage of sea first. The environment tested them to the limits: sometimes the settlers were successful; sometimes they failed and disappeared. But around a thousand years ago, one group appeared that was uniquely well adapted to deal with the Arctic environment. These Thule people moved in from Alaska, bringing dogs, iron tools and the like. They are the ancestors of today's Inuit people.

    Life for the descendants(后代) of the Thule people is still tough. Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometers of rock and ice, and a handful of islands around the North Pole. It's currently home to 2,500 people, all but a handful of them Inuit. Over the past 40 years, most have abandoned their nomadic(游牧的) ways and settled in the area's 28 isolated communities, but they still rely heavily on nature to provide food and clothing.

    Supplies available in local shops have to be flown into Nunavut on one of the most costly air networks in the world, or brought by supply ship during the few ice-free weeks of summer. It would cost a family around ￡7,000 a year to replace meat they obtained themselves through hunting with imported meat. Economic opportunities are few, and for many people state benefits are their only income.

    Every object tells a story. Even the most ordinary objects can present to us powerful images. Sometimes it is the ordinary nature of these objects that actually makes them so extraordinary. Such is the case with an old leather shoe in a museum in Alaska. At first glance it does not look like much. It is a woman's shoe of a style popular in the 1890s. But what is unique (独特的) about this shoe is where it was found. It was discovered on the Checkout Pass, the famous trail used by the people seeking gold in Alaska. Who it belonged to or why it was left there is not known. Was it perhaps dropped by accident as the woman climbed up the 1500 stairs carved outface? Or did she throw away goods that she didn't need in order to travel lighter?

    Over 100, 000 people with “gold fever” made this trip hoping to become millionaires. Few of them understood that on their way they would have to cross a harsh wildness. Unprepared for such a dangerous journey, many died of starvation and exposure to the cold weather.

    The Canadian government finally started requiring the gold seekers to bring one ton of supplies with them. This was thought to be enough for a person to survive for one year. They would carry their supplies in backpacks (背包) each weighing up to fifty pounds; it usually took at least 40 trips to get everything to the top and over the pass. Whoever dropped the shoe must have been a brave and determined woman. Perhaps she was successful and made it to Alaska. Perhaps she had to turn back in defeat. No one will ever know for sure, but what we do know is that she took part in one of the greatest adventures in the 19th century.

    Why YOUR keyless car could be gone in 23 seconds: It's a crime wave reaching high proportions and the gadgets(小装置) used to hack into your car and steal it are being sold to thieves by High Street locksmiths.

    Car thieves are using high-tech gadgets to break into and steal cars in seconds. One thief stands by a house to pick up a signal from a car key using a relay. The relay broadcasts the signal to the car, where a second thief opens the door. The scheme, which does not involve breaking windows, steals cars in seconds.

    Thousands of cars across Britain are at risk of a new form of high-tech theft which allows thieves to fool bypass the security systems in keyless cars using a relay system to boost the signal. So-called 'relay' theft occurs when two thieves work together to break into keyless cars. They use equipment to capture electro-magnetic signals emitted by key fobs. Any vehicle with keyless entry could be easily stolen. These include cars from BMW, Ford, Audi, Land Rover, Volkswagen and Mercedes.

    The doctor made it sound easy. Just walk. It was easy for him to say. I couldn't walk to the end of the road to pick up my mail. I tried to stand up, but soon got breathless and just stopped. My mailbox seemed to be so far away. It was hard for me, though I am only 39 years old!

    A month ago, my wife Stephanie and I were in Colorado Springs with our friends when I woke up at 12 o'clock at night and didn't feel very well. Stephanie and I drove to the hospital, and my 10­day vacation turned into a 10­day hospital stay. I got a scar (伤疤) on my body. It was really tough to walk around then and I needed practice.

    Stephanie had to go to work so she encouraged me to try to take a few walks. Minutes later, she came back with a puppy. "Where did you get that?" I asked. "In our mailbox," she replied. What a wonder! The puppy was dirty, with big pleading (恳求的) eyes. Stephanie was late for work. I was not very happy. I couldn't take care of myself. How could I look after this puppy? "He's going to the pound (动物收容所)," I thought. However, wherever I went, the puppy would closely follow me. I tried walking. The puppy ran ahead, looked back and repeated it again and again. He seemed to say "come on". I took a deep breath, and then tried stepping; the puppy was right at my side. I succeeded at last. I didn't take the puppy to the pound. Instead, we walked toward the mailbox.

    We named him Cheyenne. Before long, I was walking with Cheyenne every day. Pretty soon, I was strong enough to work on the farm again. Now I wonder who put a puppy in a mailbox. Nobody is so crazy after all, Cheyenne was maybe what the doctor ordered.

    Lost Huawei

    Unexpectedly, I lost my white Huawei in Midtown on Friday night. It had a blue green cover on it. There are many pictures of my son in it, and I'm heartbroken. Please return, no questions asked. Reward. Reply to: -2652255359@craigslist.org

    Do you need a babysitter that you can trust?

    My name is Tina. I am a responsible babysitter that you can trust. If you are looking for someone dependable and affordable I am that person! I HAVE MORE THAN 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE (including disabled children)! I am a retired Home Health Aid and absolutely love children. I work with my sister Iris who has also 20+years as a teacher's assistant. WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETINC YOU! Available 24 hours and flexible with fees! I am fully bilingual—Spanish/English. Please email me or call 712-867-7688.

    I BABYSIT ONLY AT MY HOME.

    I accept children from all ages. Fee starts from $100-$150 a week depending on the hours. I am very flexible and my fee can change. Feel free to contact me via email or on my cell phone 566-67-1873 and we can work something out.

    Part-time Chinese Babysitter Wanted

    Part-time Chinese speaking babysitter needed to assist with one-year-old twins and to perform some light house work as needed. Assistance needed Fridays and occasional weekends. Please provide your salary expectation. College students are welcome to apply.

    Reply to: comm-encbq-2652113885 @craigslist.org